


Cleansed in winnowfire

by Arikoto



Category: The Winnowing Flame Trilogy - Jen Williams
Genre: Aldasair/Bern - Freeform, Betaed, Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Found Family, Grief/Mourning, Healing, Hope, Other, Post-Canon, Post-Ending, The Winnowing Flame Trilogy, Tormalin/Noon - Freeform, Vintage/Chenlo - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:15:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28360767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arikoto/pseuds/Arikoto
Summary: What happened to Tormalin the Oathless and the rest after the Jure'lia was defeated and the world was born anew?
Relationships: Aldasair/Bern, Tormalin/Noon, Vintage/Chenlo
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	Cleansed in winnowfire

Time had become divided into two, the before and the after. For Sarn this meant before the Jure’lia was defeated and after when they were gone for good. For Tormalin the Oathless the shift happened at the exact same moment, but for a very different reason. For him it was divided into the time Noon was alive, and the time she wasn’t. Without Kirune, Vintage, Aldasair, Bern and the rest of his found family there probably wouldn’t have been much of the latter for him.

Tormalin retreated into himself hiding behind a constant fog of wine, the crimson flux growing more and more severe. However, he should have known he could never out-stubborn Kirune, not to mention the alliance of Kirune and Vintage, united in the mission to knock some bloody sense into him. After six months of being dead to the world in all ways but one, Tor was finally talked into drinking the sap from the miraculously reborn Ygseril. It healed him of the crimson flux and on top of that restored his face, much to his surprised annoyance. Kirune, Vintage, Aldasair and Bern set about to slowly get him to return to the still tumultuous world he left behind. One day after a full cycle of the now only moon in the sky Vintage saw Tor and Aldasair sparring in the yard, and after seeing Tor’s hesitant wry smile when he landed a blow to Aldasair’s thigh making him fall on his backside, she knew he was going to be alright.

Not long after that first small smile still shadowed in sadness, Tor set out on the road with Kirune as his sole companion. The world was still settling after the war, trying to adjust to a future without the threat of the Jure’lia, and he suddenly felt the need to see what was happening out there. What they saw was a world finally healing, much like a wound finally rid of an infection. The fell-witches that survived the final battle spread out over the continent, mentoring children that had manifested their powers. Some weeks into their travels Tor and Kirune heard it talked about as a gift instead of a curse for the first time, and Tor’s shadowed smile grew a bit brighter. The trip became Tor’s first hesitant step towards being able to imagine a future without Noon in it.

A year after the last battle they arranged a memorial at the Hill of Souls that Aldasair and Bern had re-built in remembrance of the fallen in the Ninth Rain. Finneral people kissed two fingers and touched them to their sacred stones laid there, remembering the people they had lost. Vintage and Chenlo came together in a big wagon loaded with wine from the vine forest. Chenlo now sported Yuron-kai clothing paired with a new deep red shirt, much like the one gifted to her by Vintage in Jarlsbad.

To their great surprise people came to the memorial from all over the continent. Seeing the different contingents often accompanied by one or more fell-witches on bats they started to understand how word could have spread so far and wide. The fell-witches had taken the story of Noon and shared it everywhere they went. She had become a legend, the hero who saved the world, because the fell-witches had made sure everyone knew about her sacrifice.

In the evening they all gathered around great bonfires, sharing food, drink and stories. Tor would smile to himself whenever he overheard a story about Noon, and there were so many following the Ninth Rain. A lot of familiar faces could be seen in the flickering light which made the ones missing so much more palpable, and it made their gathering bittersweet. There was no sign of Hestillion however. Tor was not surprised by this and tried to imagine where she was. For the first time since the last battle he could find it in himself to send a wish up into the sky together with the sparks from the bonfire for her to find peace wherever she was. 

In the years to come the stories about Noon would get more and more embellished, the way stories do. Tor, Kirune, Vintage, Vostok and the rest would get together every couple of years or so and tell each other the best ones they've heard since last time, while drinking Vintage's best wine. After some time they would add stories about Vintage after she passed, and then Helcate who fell asleep shortly after. When Bern passed, Aldasair, Jessen and Sharrik brought his body back to his home so his spirit would go back to the heartstone. They were never seen again. 

Tor used his remaining years helping to rebuild Ebora and made it into a bustling trading town in the shadow of the great tree. People from all over the continent came to trade goods, stories and maybe, if they were lucky, catch a glimpse of the last Eboran with his great war beast at his side.

**Author's Note:**

> My way of working through all the feels born of the ending of these glorious books. Please take note that English is not my first language. Thank you so much spacecadetrumraket for beta-reading and pushing me to finish this!


End file.
